


The Many Adventures of Rat!Cecil and Rat!Carlos

by TheVioletSunflower



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Fluff and Crack, M/M, but it's kinda cute anyways, one-offs, possibly more tags in the future, seriously it's about rats
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-18
Updated: 2014-06-28
Packaged: 2018-01-19 21:28:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 3,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1484686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheVioletSunflower/pseuds/TheVioletSunflower
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The lovely <a href="http://dean-winchesters-panties.tumblr.com/">Dani</a> recently got two rats and named them Cecil and Carlos. Whenever she tells me something they've been doing, I think of the characters Cecil and Carlos doing the same thing.<br/>This is a series of one-off short crack fics, usually pretty fluffy, about the adventures of Dani's rats.<br/>I will probably come up with a new title later...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Wheel

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nerdygal123](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nerdygal123/gifts).

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: My rats have figured out their wheel, but not the part where if they both want to run, they both have to move. Carlos somehow is on top of the wheel...

Cecil, there seems to be some sort of circular object on the corner  
of Main and Oxford do you know anything about it? -C  
You mean the Wheel of Fate? -CP  
You know what it is? -C  
Yeah, it moves when you run! -CP  
I see. I'm going to climb it and do some tests to determine its purpose here. -C  
Alright. Be careful. I love you. <3 -CP  
Love you too. xoxo -C


	2. The House

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Carlos has begun eating their house

The first thing Cecil noticed was the small chip in the paint by the window. He covered it with a new coat, but within a few days it was back again, larger. A small dent behind it as if whatever had taken the paint had taken the plaster with it. He didn't worry too much. It was probably just some sort of spirit messing with him.  
The next thing he noticed was the small scuff marks on the baseboards. 'Darned transdimensional mice,' he thought as he put out the traps. When he hadn't caught anything within a week, he started to get worried.  
When he noticed the bite marks on the window sills he finally understood. It must be the faceless old woman. He closed his eyes and yelled a stern warning to her.  
The next day, the contents of their fridge were flung about the kitchen and the words "I don't even have teeth" were scrawled in jam on the ceiling. Cecil baked a cake for the faceless old woman in apology, his confusion growing.  
It was two months before he finally walked in on Carlos picking apart a ceiling tile and filling his mouth with the fibreglass shavings.  
"Carlos?" he asked. "It was you?"  
Carlos looked up in guilt. "I'm sorry, Cecil," he said. "I couldn't help myself! I've just been having these weird cravings for building materials."  
Cecil sat beside him. "It's okay," he said. "You probably just caught a minor case of termitis. It should go away soon." He hugged his boyfriend. "You should have told me," he said. "We could have just bought you a sheet of drywall and it would have been okay."  
Carlos nodded and curled into Cecil's arms, glad to have somebody who understood.  



	3. The Hammock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Cecil and Carlos have this hammock in the top of their cage. They haven't realized they can't sleep side by side in it, so they lay on top of each other.

Carlos was so surprised when he opened the door to their apartment that he almost dropped his briefcase. "Cecil!" he called as calmly as he could. "What's this?"  
Cecil poked his head out of the kitchen. "It's a hammock," he said matter-of-factly.  
"I can see that," said Carlos. "What's it doing in our living room?"  
"I bought it today. Don't you like it?" Cecil asked, his light smile sagging.  
Carlos went to his boyfriend and kissed him gently. "No," he said. "It's great, I was just surprised is all."  
"So you like it?" Cecil asked, his smile returning.  
Carlos glanced at the hammock. It was huge and bright and didn't match anything else in the house. Not that anything matched, really. "Sure I do," he said, as genuinely as he could manage, sitting in it and swinging gently.  
Cecil grinned widely and all but tackled him into the hammock, kissing him hard. "I knew you would!" he exclaimed when they finally pulled apart, leaving his full weight on Carlos's chest.  
Carlos glanced around. The hammock was clearly wide enough for both of them. He looked back at Cecil, who was clearly getting comfortable on top of his chest. He stroked his hair. Maybe that could be explored tomorrow.


	4. The Lettuce

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Right now they're sniffing some lettuce that my mom put in their cage. They haven't actually tried to eat it yet.

Cecil tried his best not to wrinkle his nose at the plate Carlos set down in front of him. He loved living with the scientist, but there were some things that were… difficult to adjust to.  
The food, for instance. Cecil was used to protein-and-carb meals. Meals that filled the stomach and made satisfied the tastes.  
Carlos seemed to disagree. Since he had started doing most of the cooking, there was a considerably greater amount of green on Cecil's plate, and a noted lack of fried food.  
Take this plate for example. A tiny slab of poached fish in a lemon ginger sauce was supplemented by a huge pile of lettuce with hardly any dressing at all.  
"Everything okay?" Carlos asked, noticing the pained expression on Cecil's face.  
"Fine!" said Cecil, a bit too cheerily as he took a bite of the endless pile of leaves.  
Carlos laid down his fork and looked at Cecil. "What's wrong?"  
"Nothing!" insisted Cecil, sipping his water. There hadn't been soda in the house in ages.  
Carlos gave him an I-know-you're-hiding-something look.  
Cecil stared down at his food in shame. "It's just… I love you Carlos, but I hate your food."  
"What do you mean?" asked Carlos.  
"It's just not…" Cecil searched for the right words. "Deep fried."  
Carlos laughed. "No, it's not," he agreed. "I like that sort of thing now and then, but I usually prefer stuff with nutritional value."  
"Oh," said Cecil, softly and sadly.  
Carlos reached across the table and took his hand. "How would you feel about fried chicken tomorrow?" he asked.  
Cecil looked up. "Do you mean that?" he asked.  
Carlos nodded.  
Cecil wordlessly ran around the table to hug him. "Thank you," he whispered, the thought of chicken to come already making his pile of salad seem smaller.


	5. The Box

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Right now my rat friends are asleep so there's not much to write about. Carlos is in his cardboard tube and Cecil's in the hammock.
> 
> (I changed the tube into a box)

Carlos loved small spaces. He always had. Growing up, he had pushed his dresser away from the wall so he could sit in the tiny gap it created. He liked sitting in the window wells in his basement. He once climbed inside a tuba case before a band concert and had to be coaxed out by his teacher. He loved the feeling of being surrounded by solid walls. It made him feel safe.  
When Carlos grew up, he stopped sitting in small spaces. It wasn't that he didn't want to. He just knew that grown men don't do things like that. Occasionally, he would have a bad day and wish for the security of walls pressing in all around him, but he would just lie on the couch with a blanket until it went away.  
Then Cecil bought a new shelving unit and forgot to throw out the packaging. Carlos knew the moment he saw the cardboard box on the ground that it was exactly the right size to accommodate him. The temptation was too strong. Cecil wouldn't be home for hours. It couldn't hurt, right?  
Cecil walked in to find the scientist fast asleep curled up inside the box on the floor. He shook him gently awake. "Hey," he said.  
Carlos blinked, and seeing Cecil crouching beside him turned his head away, groaning in embarrassment.  
"What is it?" asked Cecil. "Did the faceless old woman put you in here? I should have a word with her…"  
Carlos shook his head. "I put myself in here," he admitted quietly.  
"What?" said Cecil, confused. "Why?"  
Carlos shrugged. "I like small spaces," he said a bit sheepishly. "They're calming."  
Cecil said nothing, just nodded and laid a comforting hand on his boyfriend's knee.  
The box arrived a week later. It was wood so it could withstand being leaned against, and the inside was lined with cushions and blankets. It even had a small hole for an extension cord to charge electronics. Neither of them ever talked about it, but sometimes Carlos sits in it for hours, comforted by the closeness of the walls and the small act of love by his boyfriend.


	6. The Treadmill

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: They're such big babies. When they get freaked out, they both get on the wheel and run as fast as possible.
> 
> This one is only very loosely based on the prompt.

At first, Carlos couldn't figure out why his stress levels were so high. Sure, living with Cecil was different, but it was a good kind of different. Nothing that should be making him want to curl up in a little ball and block out the world. And yet over the week since they had moved in together, Carlos's stress levels had gotten steadily worse.  
Cecil was supportive, holding him while he cried and making all his favourite foods as best he could, but Carlos could tell it was starting to take its toll. If he didn't shape up soon, Cecil was going to get very tired very quickly.  
Then about a week after they moved in, there was the incident with the rabbits in the lab and Carlos found himself sprinting for his life. He knew he should be scared that the rabbits had suddenly gained the ability to breathe fire and seemed very upset about being kept in a cage at the back of the lab while he examined their reproductive habits. He should be terrified for his life.  
But he wasn't.  
It wasn't until all the rabbits had been successfully rounded up and locked in a fireproof cage that Carlos had a chance to think about the feeling he'd had when he was running away from them. The sharp burn in his chest. The ache in his muscles. The huge flood of adrenaline and dopamine urging him to run faster. It was the best he'd felt all week.  
Cecil had made comfort food again, anticipating a high-strung scientist to come home. He was not expecting Carlos to waltz in smiling and kiss him enthusiastically.  
"Good day at work?" Cecil asked.  
Carlos nodded cheerfully as he hung up his lab coat. "The rabbits escaped and chased us through town, breathing fire. The lab almost burned down."  
Cecil furrowed his brow. "That doesn't sound like a good day..." he said in confusion.  
"But I figured something out," Carlos said as he walked into their house and collapsed on a couch. "I know why I've been so stressed lately."  
"Oh?" Cecil asked, sitting beside him.  
"Remember my treadmill?" Carlos asked. "The one we couldn't find a place for and decided wasn't necessary?"  
Cecil nodded.  
"I haven't run in over a week," Carlos explained. "That's why I've been so stressed! All I've got to do is go for a run in the evening after work and I'll be fine!"  
A small smile formed on Cecil's lips. "That's all?"  
Carlos nodded.  
Cecil sighed in relief, resting his head on Carlos's shoulder. "I thought it was me," he admitted. "I thought you were regretting ever asking to move in together."  
"Never," Carlos promised, his arms going around Cecil's shoulders, holding him tight.  
It was a long time before they got up to eat their dinner.


	7. The Fish Tank

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: I bought them a bowl to swim in... They were not impressed.

The first Cecil heard of it was when he received a very angry memo at the station.

"Listeners," he read. "I have just received word from leading citizen and local billionaire Marcus Vansten that a certain item of his has been misplaced. The item is described as a small fish tank carved out of a single piece of sapphire which houses Marcus's expansive collection of exotic fish, many of whom are the only remaining members of their species and would not be available for private ownership if Marcus were not so good-hearted and prodigiously walletted. He has offered a reward of three dollars for anyone able to find and return the basin. And now, traffic."

During the weather, he received a text from Carlos. He smiled as he picked up his phone, eager to see what his boyfriend had to say.

Cecil, did you buy a swimming pool?

Cecil looked at the text in confusion.

No, why do you ask?

There's an olympic-sized swimming pool in our living room. Looks like it's made of rock or something.

What? Swimming pool day isn't until Thursday!

I know! Here let me show you.

Cecil stared at the picture Carlos had sent him. It was much larger than he had expected, but it was very clearly Marcus Vansten's missing fish pool.

Carlos, where did that come from?

That's what I'm saying. I have no idea.

Cecil thought for a long while. Who would have access to Marcus's house as well as theirs? Somebody who was invested in their well-being over Marcus's... The answer hit him quickly and he had no idea why he hadn't thought of it earlier.

Carlos, have you asked the Faceless Old Woman about it?

No. I don't even know how to ask her. How do I know if she's listening?

Just talk. She's always listening.

The weather ended and Cecil returned to the show, a bit distracted by thoughts of the enormous fish tank he would be coming home to. He signed off and headed home as quickly as he could.

"Carlos!" he called as he entered the door. "I'm home!"

Carlos came to meet him at the door, giving him a quick kiss. "I found this rolled up inside a tube of toothpaste which had been emptied into the sink," he said, sounding slightly exasperated as he handed Cecil a sheet of paper. It was small and covered in careful, even handwriting.

I got you a new basin. The one in your bathroom was too small for both of you to fully submerge yourselves at the same time as you seem inclined to attempt. I got this from another home I watch. Don't worry, the owner lives alone and his bathtub is much larger than he needs for just himself so you're not inconveniencing anybody. I hope you like it. It took me three hours to get it in here.  
The Faceless Old Woman

Cecil looked up when he was done reading the note.

"So what do we do now?" Carlos asked.

Cecil sighed and reached for his phone. "I believe the prudent thing would be to call Marcus and tell him we found his fish tank.


	8. The Roof

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Carlos is sleeping on top of their house. Cecil is in it.

Carlos grew up in the city, far from the stars as any place on earth. He could still remember the fist time he had been outside the city at night, the time his abuela had taken him and his sister out for a weekend at her cabin. He had stared up at the sky, in a state of rapture that anything could be so vast and so beautiful. The moment he got back to the city, he had rushed to the library and taken out seven different books about astronomy. By the end of the week, he had read all the books and knew all of the planets of the solar system in order of distance to the sun, size and density, as well as the names of the thirty stars closest to earth and how to locate them in the sky. That was when he decided he had to be a scientist, to discover new things that would blow his mind in the same way as this had.

In college, he changed his major more times than he could count, and eventually got about the broadest degree that a person possibly could. But in his heart, Carlos was always an astronomer, still captivated by the stars that had given him so much joy as a child. He hated to admit it, but this love was a huge part of the reason he had chosen to come to Night Vale in the first place. Of course, the town itself was exciting, as was the opportunity to lead his own lab, but just imagine what the night sky would look like without the intrusive lights of a city or the constant clouds and humidity of wetter climates!

When he and Cecil had moved in together, Carlos's only request had been that their home be on the edge of town so the few lights that the town had to offer were as far away as possible. He had set up a telescope on the roof and sometimes after dinner he would sit on the roof and look up at the beauty stretching from one horizon to the other. Sometimes Cecil would join him, bringing a blanket and two glasses of some hot liquid Carlos had decided against asking the origins of.

Other nights, like tonight, he sits alone, feeling a glorious connection to the universe that could not be explained in any words he knows. Maybe he will ask Cecil how to describe it sometime. Cecil always knows the right words to use. Carlos lies back on the roof, allowing himself to relax under the wide blanket of the universe.

It will be another hour before Cecil comes to check on him. By that time, the scientist will be asleep, and Cecil will chuckle fondly as he climbs out onto the roof with a warm blanket and a pillow. He will kiss Carlos softly before silently climbing back into the house and his bed. Carlos will wake up the next morning under the blanket, and he will know Cecil had found him out on the roof again. Neither of them will mention it, but Carlos will be sure to make Cecil's favourite meal that night to thank him.


	9. The Bowl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Cecil and Carlos keep knocking their stupid food bowl over and I've decided not to fix it anymore.

"What is it?" Cecil asked, examining the small metal bowl in Carlos's hand.

"It's a Tibetan Singing Bowl," Carlos explained. "It's a traditional instrument often used in meditation. Watch this." He ran a wooden rod in slow circles around the rim of the bowl, which started to hum softly.

"Neat!" Cecil exclaimed. "Can I try?"

Carlos nodded and handed over the bowl. Cecil grinned as the bowl rang out it's strange combination of the first three harmonics of its resonating frequency.

"What are you going to do with it?" Cecil asked, handing it back.

"I don't know," Carlos said. "It's nice but I have no use for it. I don't know what my sister was thinking when she sent it to me."

\---

Carlos ended up placing it on his dresser, upside-down so as not to ring every time anyone brushed it. He quickly forgot about it and got on with making supper for Cecil and then settling down for a movie.

He was jolted awake at three in the morning by a sound he at first couldn't identify but then quickly realized was coming from the forgotten bowl as a night breeze made a corner of his shirt brush against it. He must have forgotten to flip the bowl upside-down. 

Groaning, he rolled out of bed and righted the bowl before collapsing back onto the bed and falling back asleep.

\---

The next morning, he glanced down at the bowl as he brushed his hair quietly so he wouldn't wake Cecil. It was upright again. He frowned. He could have sworn he'd turned it over last night. He turned it back before leaving the apartment for the day.

\---

He got a text around eleven.

_Carlos, would it be okay with you if I flipped the bowl upside-down? I love listening to it, but it's annoying Khoshekh. -CP_

Carlos frowned again as he texted Cecil back.

_I turned it upside-down this morning. -C_

Cecil texted back moments later.

_Are you sure? It's very much upright now. -CP_

_Yeah I'm sure. You didn't turn it? -C_

_No. Maybe it was the Faceless Old Woman? -CP_

Carlos groaned. Of course it was the Faceless Old Woman. She hated things being out of order. An upside-down bowl would have driven her crazy. She wasn't about to give it up.

_On second thought, maybe just put the bowl back in the box and find a place in the closet for it. We'll take it out if Maria ever comes to visit. -C_


	10. The Gerbil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Cecil is sitting on Carlos's head.

Carlos stared at the spot where his boyfriend had been just a moment before.

Or rather, Carlos stared at the spot where his boyfriend still was, not quite believing what had just happened. He reached down and picked up the tiny rodent looking up at him with terrified eyes. He held it close to his face and examined it. "Cecil?" he asked hesitantly.

The gerbil squeaked pathetically, then seemed startled by its own voice and hid its face in its paws.

"Oh, Cecil," Carlos said, holding the gerbil against his chest with one hand. He could feel his tiny body trembling with fear and he ran a gentle finger along Cecil's back which was now covered in soft fur. "I'm sorry," he said. "I had no idea that would happen. I honestly thought it was just a wheat substitute I had invented."

Cecil let out another soft squeak that almost sounded like a sob and Carlos continued to stroke him. After a few minutes, Carlos started laughing. Cecil gave him what Carlos assumed was the closest thing a gerbil had to a glare. It just made Carlos laugh harder.

Eventually, he managed to get himself under control enough to say "Sorry, I just... This isn't exactly what I was expecting when you said you were into pet play." He burst out laughing again.

Cecil looked somewhat offended and gave Carlos's palm a light bite. Not enough to hurt, just a gentle reminder that he didn't find his predicament nearly so funny. "Sorry," Carlos said, wiping his eyes. "Sorry. I'll figure this out. Here." He lifted him up and gave him a kiss on his tiny, furry forehead. He looked at him, eyes still twinkling in amusement. "You want to sit in my hair?" he asked.

Cecil's eyes went wide and he nodded enthusiastically. Carlos smiled and lifted the tiny creature onto his head. Cecil scrambled over quickly, curling up happily in Carlos's beautiful hair. He still wished he could be human again, but in the meantime, maybe this wasn't so bad after all.


End file.
